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Four Performance Secrets
Earlier this month, my buddy, Tony D, flew half way around the world to train with me and see what he could pick up in terms of training secrets. I did what I could for the guy and I think he learned quite a bit from the experience. Tony doesn't have a blog so this article is a summary of what I hope he picked up! It's fashionable to say "there are no secrets" and "there is no easy". We should all HTFU and JFT... That's true but it is also an over-simplification. There is a tremendous amount of experience, and knowledge, that goes into what's required to perform at a high level. This week, I'll highlight four key concepts that have helped me in academics, finance and athletics. Talent is essential, forget about it A desire to constantly test one's potential or prove talent via standardized tests... these are signs of a hyperactive mind. It is more effective to work passionately than to quantify the unknowable. The best place to measure talent is at the finish line. ++ Good Isn't Great What does it take to become great? While the extra effort is both material, and essential. People don't breakdown due to the "extra" -- people breakdown because they are unable to strip away the non-essential. Absent 1-in-ten-million talent, achieving 1-in-ten-thousand results will require a sustained effort that is unreasonable and, possibly, unhealthy. It is unique individuals that can tolerate extreme workloads over the long term (perhaps this is a form of talent?). Most of us can only cope with phases of intense work, primarily when we are young. Medical residents, investment bank trainees, elite military recruits... it's not just athletics where this applies. ++ Differentiators Persistence in the face of setback and obstacles - that counts. What else counts? The capacity to change - in athletics, the key things are:
My peer group is filled with good athletes who limit themselves because they bump into a situation where they start defending why they can't change. Change is risky, you might not improve. So pay attention to what works (keep that) as well as your mistakes (don't repeat). Most of us aren't going to get the opportunity to make the shift from Great to Greatest. However, we will get a few opportunities to shift from Good to Great. ++ Knowledge Until you can demonstrate an ability to front-up daily - for a long time - sweating the details of your sessions is time that would be better placed sleeping so you don't miss tomorrow's workout. What limits performance, quite often, is a lack of self-knowledge. Highly motivated, talented people, with extreme work ethic can be blind. I've been totally blind! I do, however, have moments of insight and I write those moments down so that I can remember the key items. Most of us have 2-4 key items that if we can get done, daily, then the rest of our life seems to fall into place. Examples:
I'd encourage you to figure out your key three, write them down and stick to them. It's a great technique in our busy lives. gordo
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I'm leaving Australia today and the way my schedule worked out, I'm probably going to take a "zero" in the training log. Not a big fan of zeros as I do best with a dose of exercise every 12 hours, or so.